Control means for harvesters or the like operating mechanism



Aug. 4, 1936. o. l.. STARR 2,049,673

' CONTROL MEANS EON HARVESTERS ON THE LIKE OPERATING NEOHANTON FiledApril 6, 1934 INVENTOR. 05cm? L. .S7-Hm? @MyW ATTORNEX Patented Aug. 4,'1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE` CONTROL MEANS FOR HARVESTERS R THELIKE OPERATING MECHANISM Oscar L. Starr, Mission San Jose, Calif.,assignor to Caterpillar Tractor Co., San Leandro, Calif., a corporationof California 'Application April s, 1934,.seria1 No. '119,331

13 claims. (ci. 18o-'14) tofore, the drive for such parts has beenprovided by means of an auxiliary engine mounted on the harvester, asthe engine of the draft vehicle could not be employed satisfactorilybecause of the uctuations in speed thereof .under the varying loadsimposed thereon. The instant invention avoids the expense and extra worken-v tailed in providing and caring for an auxiliary engine, byproviding a drive connection from the engine of the draft vehicle,v suchas a tractor, which supplies a substantially constant speed drive forthe harvester mechanism irrespective of the fluctuations in the speed ofthe engine of the draft vehicle.

It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide in a harvesteror like drawn vehicle having constant speed operating mechanism, meansenabling operation of said mechanism from a source of power 'if variablespeed.

Another object of the invention is to obviate the necessity of employingan auxiliary engine on a harvester or like vehicle.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved means foremploying the engine of the draft vehiclef'for operating the mechanismon the drawn vehicle.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved constant speeddrive from a source of power of variable speed.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved constant speeddrive for mechanism of a vehicle, from the `source of power whichsupplies the tractive force for the vehicle.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved constant speeddrive forv mechanism on a drawn vehicle, from a source of power on thedraft vehicle therefor.

Another object of the invention is to provide variable speedtransmission means for driving the parts of a harvester or the like at aconstant speed, from the engine of the draft vehicle therefor,irrespective of fluctuations in engine speed.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved variable speedtransmission arrangement which supplies a constant speed drive,irrespective of the variable speed drive vtransmitted thereto. Y

Other objects will appear as the description progresses.

. Description 0f fyures Fig. 1 is a side schematic elevation of avehicle train employing the instant invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic view of the power trans- 10 mitting mechanism ofthe draft-vehicle.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section through a hydraulictransmission which can be employed according to the instant invention.

Description of mechanism The following description and the drawingillustrate one manner in which my invention can be employed. Broadly, myinventiony includes speed varying means in the form oi. a

transmission which is automatically controlled to determine asubstantially constant speed drive of the mechanism connected therewith,irrespective of normal fluctuations in engine speed of the prime mover.Preferably, the power takeoil' from a draft vehicle is connecteddirectly to thel engine thereof, to supply a drive independent of theengagement of the clutch and transmission gears which serve to drivethetraction devices of the draft vehicle.`

The train of vehic1es l(Fig. l) includes tractor I Il and harvester II,having a suitable draft connection I2. Tractor vIIJ includes an engineproviding a source of power, which -engine usually operates at agoverned speed within a given range of iluctuations under load. Theengine has ilywheel I6 (Fig. 2) from which two drives are transmitted,one through suitable clutch and transmission means to the tractiondevices of the tractor, and the other a power takeofl-drive which isoperable independently of the clutch and transmission drive. Flywheel I6is connected by suitable clutch means I-'I to tubular clutch drivenshaft I8 having shiftable transmission gears I9 slidably andnon-rotatably mounted thereon. Gears I9 arel adapted to be selectivelymeshed with gears 2l fixed on shaft 22, to transmit a drive throughbevelpinion 23 andl bevel gear 24 to flnal drive shaft 26. Drive shaft 26 isconnected through any suitable means to the traction devices of thetractor, as, for example, disclosed in the patent tosWickersham, No.1,356,679, dated October 26, 1920. y

Shaft 3l (Fig. 2) which has gear connection 32 with' ilywheel I6 at oneend and extends 55 through tubular shaft I8, being co-axial therewith,provides the power take-ofi shaft. At its opposite end, shaft 3| has asuitable drive connection with shaft 33 carrying gear 34 slidably andnon-rotatably mounted thereon. Gear 34 is shiftable by means of shaft 36and control lever 31, to mesh with gear 38 on shaft 39. Shaft 39 extendsWithout the transmission case of the tractor at the rear end thereof,and has universal connection 4| with telescopic shaft 42 (Figs. 1 and2). Shaft 42 (Fig. 2) extends rearwardly and is universally connected todrive shaft 43 of variable speed transmission 44.

As described later, transmission 44 is constructed and controlled toprovide a constant speed drive for driven shaft 46 thereof irrespectiveof fluctuations of speed of drive shaft 43, which, as described above,is directly connected to the tractor engine. Shaft 46 has driveconnection 41 draulic transmission of the type disclosed in the patentto Sinclair, No. 1,859,607, dated May 24, 1932. Only such parts of thetransmission will be described as are necessary to an understanding ofthe operation thereof.

The transmission includes housing 6| (Fig. 3) having cover 62.'Iransmission drive shaft 43 and transmission driven shaft 46 aresuitably journaled in respective axially aligned bosses 53, 54 ofhousing 6|, and extend inwardly with their inner ends spaced apart.4Drive shaft 43 is connected to impeller mechanism which has a hydrauliccoupling with runner mechanism mounted on driven shaft 46. The ratio ofthe drive between shafts 43 and 46 is determined lby the slip in thehydraulic coupling between the impeller and runner mechanisms, asdescribed more speciilcally hereinafter; such slip being controlled byvarying the amount of uid flow through the hydraulic coupling.

Drive shaft 43 (Fig. 3) has sleeve 66 keyed thereon within housing 6|,on which impeller member 61 is secured by suitable fastening means. Tothe outer periphery of impeller member 61, internal casing member 66 andexternal casing member 69 are suitably secured, adjacent 'their outerperipheries, for rotation therewith. Between impellermember 61 and innercasing 66, working chamber 6| of the hydraulic coupling is formed, whilebetween internalcasing member 66 and external casing member 69,withdrawal chamber 62 is provided. Within working chamber 6|, runnermember 66 is mounted on sleeve 61 suitably keyed on the inner end ofdriven shaft 46. Shaft 46 is supported adjacent its inner end in collar66 suitably mounted in internal wall 69 of housing 6|. Collar 69 isstationary, and has stationary sleeve member 1|, suitably secured withrespect thereto and positioned about rotatable sleeve 61. Collar 12 isthreaded on the end of sleeve member 1| within withdrawal chamber 62 fora purpose later described.

From the foregoing description, it is seen that impeller member 61 andrunner member 66 are mounted for'i relative movement with respect toeach other, and with respect to sleevev member 1| and follar 12.Suitable seals are provided at the joints between said members as fullydisclosed in fly-ball members |03 are pivoted. Ball portions the abovenoted patent.` To provide for withdrawal of the fluid medium from theworking chamber to the withdrawal chamber, a plurality of transverseapertures 16 are formed in internal casing member 66 adjacent theperiphery there- -5 of; only one aperture 16 being seen in Fig. 3..Within withdrawal chamber 62, tube 11 is positioned, having its outeropen end positioned to receive fluid 'discharged through apertures 16.At its inner end, tube 11 is supported in collar 12 and communicates.with passage 19 through sleeve 1| leading to conduit 0|. Conduit 9|discharges into pressure tank 62 formed integrally with cover 62. Tointroduce fluid into working chamber 6|, inner sleeve 61 has a pluralityof apertures 8,6 which communicate with passage 61 in outer sleeve 1|.Passage 61 also communicates with conduit 86 leading to valve 39 whichis connected to the .bottom of tank 62 by conduit 9|.

In the arrangement of my invention, governor 20 means are provided forautomatically controlling the amount of fluid introduced from tank 92 toworking chamber 6|; so that shaft 46 can be driven at a substantiallyconstant speed to drive u the mechanism on the harvester at a substan- 2tially constant speed. For this purpose, collar |0| (Fig. 3) is suitablysecured against axial movement on driven shaft 46 for rotationtherewith, and has opposite arms |62 in which centrifugal f |04 ofmembers |03 are connected together byl opposite parallel calibratedtension springs |66.

l only one of which is seen; and the opposite forked ends |01 of members|63 are disposed in annular groove |06 of collar |09. Collar |09 isslidably and non-rotatably mounted on shaft 46 by means of key Toconnect collar |09 and A valve 69, three-arm bell-crank lever ||6 ispivoted at ||1 in bracket ||6 on housing 6|. yUpper forked end |2| oflever ||6 engages groove |22 in collar |69, while lower short end |23thereof is connected by a suitable adjustable link |26 to tension spring|24 which acts in the same direction as springs |66 described above.Link |26 is adiustably secured in end |23 by means of adjusting nuts|26'.

Intermediate forked end |2| and lower end |23 of lever ||6, arm |26extends outwardly at right angles thereto and is connected by adjustablel rod |21 to control arm |26 of valve 69 which con- 50 ltrols the ow offluid through the system. The

Afluid to working chamber 6| as described hereinafter. Should, for anyreason, shaft 46 tend 60 ta rotate below or above the selected speed,the governor will move under the influence of the springs or theily-balls as the case may be, to effect adjustment of valve 69. Valve 69will thus allow more or less fluid to flow through the 65 systemtothereby compensate for the change in speed of shaft 46 and therebyhold the shaft at its constant speed.

The operation of the device is as follows:

When impeller member 61 is rotating. the uid 70 medium, which may be oilor water, is constantly passing by virtue of the centrifugal headthereof, at a predetermined rate, from working chamber 6| betweenimpeller member 61 and runner member 66. to withdrawal chamber 62 viaapertures 75 or ports 16. By virtue of its impingement against the openend of tube 11, the fluid is ejected through tube 11, passage 19 andconduit 8|, into tank 82, thereby serving to build up pressure in thetank. This loss of fluid medium from working chamber 6| is continuouslyreplaced by virtue of the pressure in tank 82 causing the fluid to flowthrough conduit 9|, valve 89, conduit 88, passage 81, and apertures 86communicating with working chamber 6|.

It will be seen that if the amount of loss is continuously made good sothat a constant .amount of the uid medium is maintained in workingchamber 6|, the speed of runner member 66 will remain constant, as longas the speed of impeller member 51 remains constant. It is further seenthat if valve 89 is manipulated to increase the amount of fluiddischarged into working chamber 6| from tank- 82, the speed of runnermember 66 with relation to the speed of impeller member 51 will increasedue to decreased slip therebetween. Conversely, if valve 89 is adjustedto decrease the flow of fluid medium from tank 82 'to working chamber6|, the

speed of runner member 66 decreases until pres- Withshaft 46 running atthe desired constant speed, any increase in the speed thereof, due toincrease in speed of shaft 43, will move governor fly-ball'members |03outwardly and collar |69 to the right along shaft 46. Thus, bell-crank||6 will rock in a clockwise direction to osillate valve control arm |28in a counter-clockwise direction, which serves to decrease the flow offluid through valve 89. As the flow of fluid is decreased, -the speed ofrunner member 66 will also decrease as described above. Conversely, ifshaft 46 decreases in speed, due to a decrease in the speed of driveshaft` 43, the governor iiyball members |63 act through collar |69 andbellcrank |16 to oscillate valve control arm |28 in a clockwisedirection to increase the iiow of fluid through valve 89, so thatadditional fluid is supplied to working chamber 6| and the speed ofdriven shaft 46 is increased with respect to the speed of drive shaft43. As a result, because of the automatic governor control for controlelement or valve 89, shaft 46 will be governed to run at a substantiallyconstant speed.

Gear couplings of the type disclosed are built to operate with anvefficiency of approximately 97 per cent for the most desirable results,so that the lowest speed of drive shaft 43 i. e., the lowest governedengine speed should be slightly higher than the constant speed desiredfor driven shaft 46. With this arrangement, the gear coupling has anample range of speeds to accommodate the fluctuation in speed of driveshaft 43, while maintaining driven shaft 46 at the desired speed.

While I have described a preferred form of transmission to be employedwith my invention, it is obvious that other types of variable speedtransmissions can be utilized according to my invention. For example, amechanical Reeves drive can be employed; and the speed of the drivenpower take-o shaft thereof can be governed automatically by a. governorarrangement connected to the transmission to control automatically thespeed change ratio thereof. Although in the preferredembodiment of myinvention, I have illustrated the applicability thereof in connectionwith the operating mechanism on a harvester, it is apparent that theprinciple can be employed in connection with other drawn vehicles. Forkexample, certain types of road machines, such as elevating graders androad cleaning vehicles, require a constant speed drive for theoperatingmechanism thereon for most advantageous operation.

I, therefore, claim as my invention:

1. The combination with a vehicle having mechanism adapted forsubstantially constant speed operation, and a draft vehicle thereforhaving a source of power of variable speed; of transmission meansconnected to said source of power and to said mechanism to drive saidmechanism, and means influenced by speediiuctuations of the drive tosaid vmechanism for automatically controlling operation of saidtransmission means to determinel a substantially constant speed drive tosaid mechanism.

2. 'I'he combination with a vehicle having mechanism adapted forsubstantially constant" drive said mechanism, an adjustable controlmember for said transmission, and governing means influenced by speeductuaticns of the drive to said mechanism and connected to said controlmember for maintaining substantially n constant speed operation of saidmechanism.

3. The combination with a vehicle having mechanism adapted forsubstantially constant speed operation, and a draft vehicle thereforhaving a Variable speed source of power; of speed varying means betweensaid mechanism and said source of power for maintaining a substantiallyconstant speed drive for said mechanism irrespective of fluctuations inthe speed of said source of power, and governing means influenced byspeed fluctuations of the drive to said mechanism for controllingadjustment of said speed varying means.

4. The combination with a vehicle having mechanism adapted forsubstantially constant speed operation, and a variable speed source ofpower for supplyingthe tractive force for propeiling said vehicle; ofspeed varying means interposed between said mechanism and said source ofpower for determining a substantially constant speed operation, and adraft vehicle therefor having a source of power of variable speed; of avariable speed transmission between said drawn 4vehicle means and saidsource of power, and

governor means driven simultaneously with said drawn vehicle means andassociated .with said transmission for controlling operation thereof tosupply a substantially constant speed drive from v said source of powerto said drawn vehicle means.

6. The combination with a drawn vehicle hav\ ing means adapted forsubstantially constant speed operation, and a draft vehicle thereforhaving a source of power of variable speed; of transmission meansbetween said drawn vehicle means and said source of power, a variablespeed drive shaft for said transmission means and connected to saidsource of power, a shaft driven by said transmission means and connectedto said drawn vehicle means, and control means associated with saiddriven shaft for controlling operation of said transmission means tomaintain substantially constant speed operation of said driven shaft.

7. The combination with a. drawn vehicle having mechanism adapted forsubstantially constant speed operation; and a draft vehicle having anengine, traction devices, and clutch and transmission means for drivingsaid traction devices from said engine; ofl speed varying means, a

drive connection from said engine to said speed varying meansindependent of said clutch and transmission means, a second driveconnection from said speed varying means to said mechanism, and governormeans driven by said second drive connection and operatively connectedto said speed varying means to control the speed drive determinedthereby.

Ations of the drive to said mechanism and connected with said mechanismand with saidv element for adjusting said element automatically tomaintain substantially constant the speed of said mechanism.

9. A harvester and the like vehicle having mechanism thereon adapted forsubstantially constant speed operation, and a transmission unitmountedon said vehicle, said unit including automatic speed change meansinuenced by speed iluctuations of the drive to said mechanism andconnected with said mechanism for operating said mechanism atsubstantially constant speed.

10. In a vehicle having operable mechanism thereon; a source of power;and means for driving said mechanism from said source of power at asubstantially constant speed irrespective of transmission deviceinterposed between saidl i source of power and said mechanism and havinga drive transmitting member connected with said mechanism', and meansassociated with said device and including governor mechanism responsiveto speed variations of the drive transmitted by said device forautomatically controlling said device to maintain the speed of saidmember substantially constant.

12. Ina vehicle-having operable mechanism thereon, a source of power forpropelling said vehicle, a drive connection from said source of power tosaid mechanism for driving said mechanism independently of thepropulsion of said vehicle by said source of power and including acontrollable-speed transmission device, and

means inuenced by speed uctuations of the drive to said mechanism andassociated withsaid device for maintaining the speed of said mechanismsubstantially constant irrespective of speed uctuations of said sourceof power.

13. 'I'he combination with a vehicle having mechanism adapted forsubstantially constant speed operation, and a source of power forsupplying the tractive force for propelling said vehicle; oftransmission means connected to said source of power and to saidmechanism to drive said mechanism., and governor means drivensimultaneously with said mechanism for automatically controllingoperation of said transmission means to determine substantially constantspeed operation of said mechanism independent of speed fluctuations otsaid source of power.

OSCAR L. STARR.

